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Eleanor Mangkoedimedjo
Eleanor "Nor" Mangkoedimedjo is a character. She is Philomena Develsbourne's cranky, lively mother. Life Early life Eleanor Mirabelle Mangkoedimedjo (née Schuyler, also known as Laila Mulyati), was born on the 11th of August, 1928, in Batavia, New York, as the youngest child and daughter of Lucas Schuyler and Ana Schuyler, her elder sisters being Coralea Schuyler and Mary Versteeg. There, they lived with Lucas' parents, Thomas Schuyler and Eleanor Schuyler (the latter was Nor's namesake). Due to the pressures of the Great Depression, Lucas and Ana divorced in 1936, and Lucas took a chance to relocate to the Dutch East Indies, taking Nor with him, and married an Indonesian woman named Rosminah in 1937. The family kept close contact, however, and spent their holidays in Indonesia and the US. They lived in Bandung, with Lucas under the name Adam Sutansyah and Eleanor Laila Mulyati. During the Japanese occupation, 'Adam', as he planned to, assimilated into Indonesian culture and worked as an architect. Laila pursued the arts, learning traditional dances of Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese origins. Adulthood Her childhood friend, Aji Koesnadi, was a pen-pal of a Javanese ningrat, Prabowo Mangkoenonadimedjo, who had moved to Jakarta from Jogjakarta for college. He visited Aji in Bandung in 1944 and met 'Laila', whom he was very taken with. In May 1945, Laila married Bowo, moved to Jakarta, and had twin daughters, Philomena and Matilda, in 1946. This proved to be a very difficult time, as Indonesia was under the Bersiap period. Despite being pro-Indonesians, Laila, her father, and the rest of the family faced many challenges--especially among their own friends. There were other problems, too. Being a young mother was difficult for Laila, as she had little patience for childcare and she was too ill to produce breastmilk. Though her husband and family were very supportive, they resolved by hiring a nanny and wet nurse, Mala, a Dayak woman. Mala raised the children as if they were her own, and taught Laila the values of motherhood. She was also the one that gave Jantje to the family as Laila's 20th birthday present. She disappeared, however, in 1955, without a trace, leaving the family heartbroken. By the time that her daughters were teenagers, Laila was able to maintain a participative relationship with them and didn't meddle into their personal lives. On her father's death in 1965, Laila inherited his house in Bandung, for Ros, who didn't have any children or grandchildren of her own, moved in with Laila and her family in Jakarta. Later life Tilly got married in 1965 to Herman Willem and he moved in, joining the family. A few months later, Laila's first grandchild, Anneke Willem was born. Her second grandchild, Lusinda Willem, was born in 1967. Though Philly continued her studies in Sociology at the University of Indonesia and graduated in 1968, she expressed disenchantment at staying in Indonesia and so Laila sent her to live with her Aunt Lea in Florida for a year in 1971. She returned in 1972, engaged to Phillip Develsbourne, much to Laila's dismay of her daughter leaving the country. In 1988, after her mother's death, she legally changed her name back to Eleanor Mirabelle, as a form of respect for her family in the US and the last American aspect of herself that she carried in Indonesia. Category:Characters Category:Female Characters